Denmark has developed a public-private partnership to pave the way for ‘responsible AI’ adoption across multiple sectors, including finance, public administration and legal.
The Nordic country, which ranked first in the annual United Nations E-Government Survey this year, is putting its ideas forward in a new whitepaper to help European countries implement AI within the context of the EU AI Act.
Although the UK is not part of the Act, which prohibits the use of the technology in certain conditions, for example unwarranted state surveillance, companies that operate in the EU do have to adhere to its statutory requirements.
Denmark has therefore developed a series of ‘best-practice examples’ of how AI can be safely and legally integrated to ‘support employees and deliver secure, reliable services to citizens and customers’.
Denmark’s Ambassador to the UK, René Dinesen, said: “It is well known that the UK has a globally competitive AI talent pool and is ambitious with initiatives like the AI incubator, which drives AI solutions for public departments. Those initiatives have been an inspiration also to Denmark.
“We hope the new Danish initiative to showcase best-practice examples of how AI can be responsibly integrated will be of inspiration to other partners including the UK. Denmark and the UK already have a close collaboration in areas such as energy transition and health. In an effort to further expand the UK-Denmark government-to-government collaboration, the Danish Embassy in London has recently employed a Digital Counsellor, Sidsel Skovborg, with public sector digital expertise to share experiences in public digitization including the use of AI between our two nations.”
Skovborg, who has worked in both central and regional government IT leadership roles in Denmark, spoke last week at Digital Scotland, and outlined how Denmark overcame obstacles to digital transformation through its work with the private sector.
Danish private and public organisations have built on that cooperation through the new partnership to accelerate AI implementation. This includes highly regulated financial and public sectors, and IT companies.
The partnership has been initiated by André Rogaczewski, CEO of Netcompany and Chairman of Danish Industry Digital, who has long been advocating for public-private collaboration regarding artificial intelligence.
Netcompany won a contract in January to deliver a nationwide digital postal service to Scottish households. The system will be designed for those who ‘wish’ to receive official government and public sector communications online – securely, and in one place.
A dozen Danish municipalities are already using an AI simulation tool to optimise vehicle fleets and route planning, which reduces both CO2 emissions and costs by ensuring the right number of vehicles in the public fleet. The children’s department in the municipality of Aarhus, with 367,000, saves approximately 67 tons of CO2 annually and has reduced its minibus fleet by 35 per cent. Another example, about to be deployed, is the “Journal & Record Assistant,” which transcribes meeting content for documentation, acting as a “wingman” during citizen interviews to draft notes for civil servant review.
Together with an AI company, 20 public institutions have developed the solution, which is estimated to save 9,000 hours annually in a municipality of 90,000 residents. The solution focuses on documentation in tasks managed by the local authority, similar to Jobcentre Plus in the UK, unlocking greater savings potential in other welfare areas. Denmark hopes this can serve as an inspiration to a UK-Danish dialogue.
Denmark’s structured data access is the key, as it enables responsible and rapid AI implementation. If a solution works in one ministry or municipality, it can be scaled across others. Denmark, like the UK, has also invested in a digital AI taskforce to explore how solutions can be scaled to add value in the public sector. Denmark’s track record in responsible, large-scale digital solutions—such as digital IDs and digital post— have helped put the country at the forefront of government digital innovation.
